Atasever M.Pakdemirli M.Yurtsever H.A.2025-04-102025-04-102009http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14701/51598A practical and technological application of calculus problem is posed to motivate freshman students or juniory high school students. A variable coefficient of friction is used in modelling air friction. The case in which the coefficient of friction is a decreasing function of altitude is considered. The optimum parabolic path for a flying object for which the work done by variable coefficient air friction force is minimum is determined. If a flying object follows the determined path, energy requirement would be less compared with other parabolic or linear paths. © The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Institute of Mathematics and its Applications. All rights reserved.Article10.1093/teamat/hrp015